Furnace employed in welding shanks to tools



J. WHITE.

WELDING FURNACE.

No. 8,434. Patented 001;. 14, 1851,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN \VHITE, OF ANTRIM, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

FURNACE EMPLOYED IN WELDING SHANKS TO TOOLS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 8,434, dated October 14, 1851.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN VHITE, of Antrim, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in furnaces for welding the blade of a hoe or other similar implement of sheet steel to its wrought-iron shank, and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter re ferred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements, by which my invention may be distinguished from all others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

The figures of the accompanying plate of drawings represent my improvements.

Figure l is a plan of my improved furnace. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical section, taken in the plane of the line A B, Figs. 1 and 2.

In the manufacture of hoes, shovels, or other similar articles, where it is desirable to use sheet steel, it has long been a desideratum, to discover some practical and economical means, by which the small portion of iron composing the shank, can be welded to the blade, without injuring or destroying the steel. In some instances, and for certain purposes, sheet steel can be, and has been united or welded to a considerable quantity or mass of iron, because the iron absorbs the great heat required in the process, and thereby prevents the destruction or burning out of the steel. But in such articles as hoes or shovels, in which it is desirable, as is well known, to avoid the use of rivets, in connecting the shank to the blade, and furnish a smooth surface throughout both sides of the latter, the portion of iron which is required for the shank, is so very small, that it absorbs but little of the heat required for welding, and therefore if the intense heat so required, is brought to bear as strongly upon that part of the steel blade, not in the vicinity of, or in contact with the shank, as upon said last named part; the said portion, first named, would be consumed or eaten up as it were.

By my improved furnace, the difficulties heretofore encountered in welding a small portion of iron to sheet steel, or the blade of a hoe &c. to its shank, are effectually obviated, said furnace being so constructed as to bring a hot blast, (the flame for which is derived from ignited coal,) to bear exclusively on each side of the steel plate, at the spot where the shank and blade are to be united, the other parts of said blade being protected from exposure to the whole strength of said blast, and the blast being divided or turned round the upper or outer end of said plate, as it lies in the furnace.

The several parts of the furnace are sustained in a sheet iron casing, a a a a, a a" a a, as shown in the several drawings, or in any other desirable way.

I) Z) Z) .7) is the fire chamber, placed in the lower part a a" a a of said casing, and having a proper grate c c, on which the coal .is spread; and an ash pit below said grate,

having a sliding door (Z, by opening which the cinders &c, may be discharged from said ash pit. The fire chamber above the grate is surrounded by the mass of brickwork 6 e c e, which has a foundation in the bottom of the wider part of the casing, or that denoted at a a a a, and the fuel is spread upon said grate, through the opening at f, by removing the brick g g. The brick work is extended up and entirely over the fire chamber, and leaves the small rectangular space it 71-, the area of the section of which should be sufficient to cover the area of the part of the blade and shank of a hoe, &c. that are to be welded. Above this space it h, is formed or left the narrow groove 2' 2', extending out laterally and rearward, and sufficiently wide to permit the free insertion of the blade of the hoe, or other implement, the arrangement being such, that the portion of said blade, not to be welded to the shank, shall be sustained on the brickwork, forming the bottom of said groove, and thereby be protected from contact with the flame, which passes up through the space 71- h. Above this groove space i 2', is formed the reverberating chamber 70 is, of the same width as the chamber h h, but extending backward farther, and having a discharging flue or opening Z, of proper dimension, through the brick top at m, of the furnace, which opens into the atmosphere, or any proper chimney.

On the side of the fire chamber Z) Z) 6 b, and below the grate 0 0, a circular or other proper shaped opening a, Fig. 3, is formed, into which the cold air from a bellows or fan wheel, is introduced. There is a lever door 0, at the front of the furnace, having a fulcrum at 79, and a small opening to accommodate the form of the shank, the end of which shank projects out of the furnace, when the blade is placed therein. The blade 1", and shank s, for the purpose of being conveniently inserted in the furnace, are confined together by a single rivet, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l and in Fig. 4:.

The shank and blade of the hoe &c., to be welded, are, or may be (for the sake of expedition in the process) first heated moderately in a common open furnace, and should have borax inserted between them in the usual way, and are then inserted in the welding furnace above described, the fuel in which is thoroughly ignited, and at some distance below the underside of the blade &c. of the hoe, then by starting the blast of air through the opening n, the flame is driven up so as to bear very intensely on the under or inner side of said blade and shank, and double about the same, and is made to reverberate upon the top thereof, by the top m, of the furnace, as shown by red arrows in Fig. 4, said top being built so low as to produce the desired reverberation of the heat &c. on the top of the blade &c. By raising the lever door 0 0, from time to time, the operative can discover when the requisite degree of heat has been imbibed by the parts to be welded, and

when this is secured, the same are removed from the furnace, and placed under a trip hammer, where the welding is completed in a very short time.

The intense heat produced in a furnace constructed and operated as above described, soon burns out the parts most exposed to said heat, and the furnace will therefore require repairs once in three or four weeks, but as it is so simple in construction, the expense of said repairs will be very inconsiderable.

Having thus described my improvements, I shall state my claims as follows:

What I claim as my invention, and desire to have secured to me Letters Patent is,

The combination of the groove formed in the brickwork above the fire, with the aperture h 71. leading thereto and the reverberating channel and exit flue leading therefrom, arranged with reference to each other and the fire substantially in the manner described, whereby the fiames gases etc. are caused to act upon both sides of such portions of the blade and shank as are to be welded to each other, and the other portions of the blade are protected from the heat substantially as described.

JONATHAN WHITE. Witnesses LEVI l/VOODBURY, LUKE WOODBURY. 

